Women in the Driver's Seat: The Auto-Erotics of Early Women's Films

The trope of women's 'automobility' in three films centered around female drivers is examined in order to chart the changing fortunes of women's creative control in early Hollywood, looking in turn at Mabel Normand, Nell Shipman and Frances Marion. Whether behind the wheel or behind the camera, women's mastery of exciting new technologies offered a spectacular image of New Womanhood as both practical power and thrilling adventure.